Stephen King Praises EVIL DEAD RISE and Teases "Chainsaw-Fu"
Stephen King recently caught a screening of Evil Dead Rise, and he offered some high praise for it. This wouldn’t be the first time that King offered a rave review for an Evil Dead movie. After he saw the original film in 1982, the author called Sam Raimi‘s debut “The most ferociously original horror film of 1982,” and at the time the film didn’t actually have distribution.
Raimi had a rough time getting the film distribution as the studios were passing on because it was just too hardcore of a horror film. Eventually, New Line Cinema picked up The Evil Dead, and the rest is history.
Raimi recalled back in 2015 that if it wasn’t for King’s review in Twilight Zone Magazine the film wouldn’t have found a distributor. He said: “Without that, the movie may have been lost, but with Stephen King’s endorsement, we were able to make our first sales.”
Now, all these years later King is praising the latest installment of the franchise, saying in a tweet, “While I’m busy promoting, how about EVIL DEAD RISE? It’s gruesome, it’s bloody, it’s even got an elevator vomiting blood. Not to mention chainsaw-fu.”
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but the whole “chainsaw-fu” comment definitely sparked some excitement, and I need to see what that is!
In this new chapter, “a road-weary Beth pays an overdue visit to her older sister Ellie, who is raising three kids on her own in a cramped L.A apartment. The sisters’ reunion is cut short by the discovery of a mysterious book deep in the bowels of Ellie’s building, giving rise to flesh-possessing demons, and thrusting Beth into a primal battle for survival as she is faced with the most nightmarish version of motherhood imaginable.”
The movie is directed by Lee Cronin, and it stars Alyssa Sutherland (Vikings) and Lily Sullivan (Picnic At Hanging Rock), Gabrielle Echols (Reminiscence), Morgan Davies (The End), and Nell Fisher (Splendid Isolation). Evil Dead Rise is slated to hit theaters on April 21, 2023.